Today is a long-awaited day here at Talkhouse — the day that we finally can announce the launch of our new print and digital zine, the Talkhouse Reader.
Until now, our editorial has existed only online. At a time when it feels like every other week, the shuttering of another beloved publication is announced, we are very lucky to be bringing Talkhouse into the tangible world.
This past summer, Nick Dawson (Editor-in-chief of Talkhouse Film & TV) and I worked together to compile this inaugural edition: the New York Issue. Seeing as we’re a primarily New York-based company — though integral parts of our team are in Milwaukee and Seattle, too — it felt fitting for this first issue to celebrate our hometown, and the artists who make it worth living in.
Part of our objective for the issue was to deliver a sort-of state of the union on New York’s music and film scenes, as told by the musicians and filmmakers themselves. But most of what ended up coming out, in the essays and artist-on-artist conversations you’ll find in it, was about the past. No surprise. In a city with as much history as New York has to contend with, it seems impossible to not look back to some extent, even while you’re moving forward. (Insert your own take on “indie sleaze” here.)
The main thing I want to note, though, is that we didn’t set out to make an authoritative document of Everything Important That’s Happening in New York, and that’s certainly not what we’ve ended up making. There are so many more artists I love in this city who I wish were in this issue, and so many cultural blindspots that I wish I’d had the time and know-how to cover too.
What this issue ultimately is, I think, is a temp check on how Talkhouse’s corner of the city is feeling about living and making art in New York right now — and what it’s meant to do that over the course of the past 50 or so years.
Throughout November, we’ll be giving you a preview of the zine here on the site. You can pre-order your own copy of it, or pick one up at our launch party next Tuesday, November 7, at Billy’s Record Salon in Williamsburg (133 Manhattan Ave.). Doors are at 6:30 PM. The party will feature a live taping of the Talkhouse Podcast at 7, followed by live sets and DJing from contributors like May Rio, Miracle Sweepstakes, Anastasia Coope, and more.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
